Lost: Whatever Happened, Happened

At the risk of sounding clichéd, I'm gonna say it anyway - all the pieces are coming together. While I didn't particularly care for any of tonight's flashbacks (personally, I've never really gotten into Kate at all), what happened on the island in 1977 was mesmerizing. It's looking more and more like the Oceanic 6 (plus Juliet, Miles, etc.) were directly responsible for, well ... everything.

Alright, so let's get the flashback analysis out of the way first. Two words: boring and letdown. For the most part, we all assumed that Kate finally caved and gave Aaron back to his true grandmother, Carole Littleton. No surprise, but it was still a detail that needed to be shown. That was the boring part. The letdown? All Sawyer whispered into Kate's ear on the helicopter was "take care of my daughter?" That's it?!? Booo. Hisss.

Look, Cassidy (Kim Dickens) has always been a great character and I was glad to see her back, but this wasn't the right way to do it. It was shocking to me that Kate so readily spilled her guts about the entire lie to Cassidy (and somewhat to Carole) and I can't comprehend why she did this. I refuse to accept "I had to get that off my chest" as an excuse, yet I feel like that's the only answer there is. Then again, Kate still carried around the guilt of killing her father, so I guess maybe she just couldn't take it anymore.

The one solid piece of information to come out of the ordeal was Kate's reasoning for going back to the island. She wants to find Claire and seems to be driven by Roger Linus' mentality: a boy needs his mother. It's telling that Kate seemed to change her tune when Aaron ran off in the supermarket and walked away with a woman who looked an awful lot like his biological mother. So it appears Kate didn't go back for Sawyer? Baloney. I say he was part of Kate's decision, too. As Jack pointed out, Kate never liked the "old him" either. So Sawyer definitely has to be part of her agenda because she certainly wasn't doing it for Jack.

Anyway, back to 1977. Once again, Hurley served as proxy for the frustrated Lost fanbase trying to comprehend "Daniel Faraday Logic 101." Listening to him and Miles banter about whether or not we exist, what's happened, what will happen, what hasn't happened, and disproving Back to the Future was absolutely hilarious and it damn near mimicked word for word some of the conversations I've had with my friends about this stuff. It can be confusing as hell, and this was a great way to stand back and laugh at it all.

However, Hurley brought up the million dollar question: if Sayid shot young Ben, why didn't Ben (a.k.a Henry Gale at the time) recognize Sayid in 2004 when he captured and tortured him? Obviously, the plot probably wasn't this far developed during season two and having Ben recognize Sayid probably wasn't even discussed. But Lindelof and Cuse have come up with a pretty cool and exciting way to explain it all.

So Lil' Ben has been shot, Juliet can't save him, and Jack refuses to help. Speaking of Jack, he sure sounded a lot like Locke here. "Maybe the island wants to fix things itself?" "I was supposed to come back." He seems to have a lot of faith all of a sudden, and his refusal to save Ben seemed to be less about his hatred for the lad and more about him testing Miles' assertion - Ben will live regardless. If that's the case, then why bother, right?

The irony here? Had Jack helped him, then maybe Ben wouldn't have become the man he did. Young Ben might have grown up with a dislike for the hostiles since one of them shot him. But instead, Sawyer and Kate brought Ben to Richard, who in turn brought Ben into the temple to be saved. Now we all remember what Lacombe, Brennan, and Robert were like when they came out of the temple. Richard warned that Ben would not remember any of the events leading up to this (hence, not recognizing Sayid in '04) and that he would lose his innocence as well as be one of them forever. So it seems that Kate and Sawyer's choice is directly responsible for why Ben grew up into a hateful, manipulative, Other for life. Nice jobs, guys.

A few other thoughts -

I still don't fully understand Richard's role in the Others hierarchy. He clearly had big plans for Ben when he took the boy from Kate. Richard even said to that one random Other that he didn't report to Ellie or Charles (who was in charge at the time). So how does Richard fit in if he somehow always has an upper hand over whomever is in charge?

I loved the final scene in 2007 when Ben woke to see Locke staring at him, the same way Locke woke to find Widmore in Tunisia. The same could be said about Kate begging Jack to save Ben's life in 1977 again. Not only did "whatever happen, happen," but it seems as though situations are continually being repeated. Just not quite the same way every time.

What's the verdict - was Ben truly surprised to see Locke alive? Or was he just feigning awe to fool John yet again?

Here's the official description for next week's episode:

"Dead is Dead" - To atone for sins of the past, Ben must attempt to summon the smoke monster in order to be judged, on "Lost," WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8 (9:00-10:02 p.m., ET) on ABC.

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["So it appears Kate didn't go back for Sawyer? Baloney. I say he was part of Kate's decision, too. As Jack pointed out, Kate never liked the "old him" either. So Sawyer definitely has to be part of her agenda because she certainly wasn't doing it for Jack."]

Didn't you ever realize that Sawyer was merely a spare for Kate whenever her relationship with Jack was in trouble?

What about Vincent, the yellow lab? What about Micheals' son that exhibited strange powers in Europe when his mom was still alive? He killed a bird with his mind power and now he's in California with the grandma. Any thoughts?

I love Kate, and don't understand all the haters, but I have to agree with you--I love Elizabeth Mitchell, too!

That is to say, were I stranded on a deserted island (no pun intended), I would rather it was with Elizabeth Mitchell than Evangeline Lilly, if put to the choice. But Kate is clearly the more interesting character...

Regarding the whole "Why didn't Ben Linus remember Sayid in the future" thing - I am kind of surprised they need to come up with any fancy explanation at all.

When you are in your 30's or 40's will you remember the faces of all the adults that you met (briefly) when you were 10?

Ok, granted, Sayid SHOT Ben so maybe he would have his face seared in his memory. Assuming that's the case, it's still easily explained just based on Ben's character. He has never been one to fully disclose his plans or knowledge. How are we to know that he DIDN'T recognize Sayid in the future and just feigned ignorance. The secret knowledge of that would certainly give him an upper hand.

But nope it seems like they came up with a hocus-pocus reason: Ohhh the temple makes him forget it ! OK.

Otherwise the episode was great, although Hurley was VERY annoying in his conversation with Miles. It's really not that hard to understand... Come on...

How about the fact that in real life sometimes a traumatic event causes you to not remember the events surrounding such a trauma. The human brain has its defense mechanisms. I can ceertainly see where the shock/trauma of being shot would cloud Ben's memory, and then I agree that the impact of 30 years would additionally muddle things. But in the end, I find the explanation that in order to save his life he will be changed in some way--that's the story they are telling and I choose not to have a problem with this point. I'm surprised so much has been made of this point.

Now. the continuity errors being brought up--that's a whole different story. Maybe the writers are getting a little sloppy. Its still the best show on television.

This weeks episode was pretty interesting. I thought the scenes with Kate having to leave Aaron behind was very touching. I also loved the scene where Hurley and Miles were debating over how time travel worked. It was freakin hilarious seeing the two of them try to make sense of it. Anyways for the person who missed the episode, I just watched it online here...

I really liked the Kate jazz inthis episode. Kate's flashbacks have been pretty dull of late, but I was really looking forward to this one, and I think they got it right on. I really enjoyed seeing how much of a change the character has gone through. Her main concern in this episode wasn't Sawyer or Jack it was Ben. She's turned into a genuinely motherly character. Anywho, here's my analysis: http://ncjl.wordpress.com/2009/04/02/511-whatever-happened-happened-analysis/- izi